For the first time since May 1990, New Philadelphia soon will be without a first-run movie theater — but not without a movie theater altogether.

Officials of New Towne Mall confirmed Wednesday that the eight-screen Regal Cinemas will close in the near future. An exact date was not immediately available. Mall officials said they were referred to Regal Entertainment Group headquarters in Knoxville, Tenn., and are awaiting a return call. The Times-Reporter also left a message on Wednesday.

A check of movie websites ends after the show times listed for Sunday at the mall.

First-run movies have been shown in the mall since May 1990, when Hoyts Cinemas opened. Hoyts later added more screens and eventually sold to Regal. New Towne Mall opened in 1988.

Mall General Manager Jody Hopkins said he hasn’t been given a reason for the closing and doesn’t know what’s involved in Regal’s decision-making process. He said the mall office has received at least a dozen phone calls recently, but “we’ve only been able to tell people what we knew at that point.”

On March 7, The T-R printed a “30 Seconds” item stating: “I heard a rumor that the Regal Cinema is going to shut down and move out of the mall this month. Please tell me this isn’t true.” Mall Marketing Director Adria Bergeron responded that the mall was unaware of any plans of closure, and expected Regal Cinema to continue its operations.

Hopkins said Wednesday that the notification times for a tenant to stop operations varies, and that all long-term leases are conducted through the mall’s owner, Glimcher based in Columbus.

Hopkins said Wednesday he contacted Glimcher to see if corporate officials had more information than was being provided locally.

Hopkins said that the mall doesn’t track customer traffic for individual tenants. He added that overall customer traffic is increasing at the mall, “which is performing pretty well.”

Bergeron said they haven’t noticed anything unusual about customer traffic to the movies.

“Usually, we only hear something when there’s a problem, and we haven’t heard any issues about attendance,” she said.

“Although we will miss having Regal Cinemas here, I believe that we will be able to fill that location with a retailer that will meet the needs of our shoppers.”

She said conversations are under way with potential retailers regarding the more than 20,000-square-foot space. That’s about the size of the nearby JoAnn Fabric and Craft Stores in the mall.

Bergeron said that she has been told that gift certificates will be honored at any other Regal Cinemas location.

The nearest location is in Massillon, with a 12-screen stadium seating theater. In December, Regal Entertainment Group acquired that location as part of a $91 million purchase of Great Escape Theatres — 25 theaters with 301 screens nationwide.

Page 2 of 2 -
The $8 million movie complex opened in Massillon in May 2005 after the company acquired 9.25 acres on Cherry Rd. NW for $650,000. The Massillon complex was the 16th built by Great Escape at the time.

Mike Ernest, a co-owner of The Quaker Cinema at 158 W. High Ave. in downtown New Philadelphia, said he intends to get more movies and sooner than has been the case for the second-run theater.

“There are still contractual obligations with film distribution companies that may not be in best interests of the Quaker to become a true first-run theater — which would be showing a movie on the same day as its release nationwide,” he said.

“There are also limitations regarding first-run movies that we don’t want to be bound by, or that we think our customers would want — a significant price increase to the point that a regular customer of the Quaker may be turned off by that.”

Currently, the Quaker charges $3.75 for its evening showings on Friday, Saturday and Sundays. Matinees on Saturdays and Sundays are $2.75, and the evening showings on Wednesdays are $2.

“Film distribution companies more than likely wouldn’t accept such low prices in this market because Regal has already established ticket prices, typically at over $9 per showing,” he said about the $2 tickets. “Because of that there have been certain movies that we’ve had to charge more than $2 because the higher fee is mandated by the film distributor.”

Ernest expects to expand the number of show times, possibly starting in May or June. He said that’s spurred by more public interest and the traditional summer schedule, as well as requirements set by film distributors.

The Quaker has two screens, with seating of 210 and 190 respectively.

“We’ve had a very good year so far, and we were already optimistic about the future before this happening,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of local interest in showing more Independent films and faith-based films.”